The show’s last run saw it posting its lowest ratings since the first season, after fans felt the Negan storyline had dragged things into a slump since its introduction halfway through season 6. However, that narrative’s now (hopefully) concluded, but the show’s seemingly phasing out its biggest stars. With a lighter cast and a lot of fan backlash, it remains to be seen if AMC will be pleased with the performance of the next batch of episodes.

Moving on to defend recent creative decisions, which include the death of season 1 regular Carl Grimes as well as the upcoming departures of stars Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan, Sullivan declared that “it’s tough to stand out,” but that “creatively, the team has done a great job.”

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The death of Carl certainly helped the show stand out, if not for all the right reasons. Reportedly only featuring in a handful of episodes in season 9, Andrew Lincoln elaborated on the motivation which kept him going for so long. Speaking to ComicBook.com following the onscreen death of his character’s son, Lincoln said:

“Searching for his wife and his son were the two engines that kept this man alive at the beginning of the show eight years ago. To lose the second engine that fueled him, at this point, certainly did feel, to me personally, not just the end of a chapter but a book, really.”